The Traditional Call Centre is Dead; Online Customer Service is King

Call centre phone queues, not being able to find information on a company's website and waiting for email replies are the biggest customer service frustrations amongst British consumers using mobile phone or broadband provider websites, according to an online survey of over 2,000 people, commissioned by online customer care vendor, nGenera CIM. In fact, 96% of customers say they would proactively look for a competitor or stop using a company's website altogether following poor customer service. This is not surprising given that 93% say customer service is either important or very important when using the web.

Waiting in a call centre queue was considered the biggest frustration with 65% of respondents finding this annoying. The report also uncovers the preferred methods of seeking assistance when on a website, with email topping the list (32%), followed by using the online Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section (25%). Less than one in five (18%) people opt to call the customer services team.

Not surprisingly, there were some startling differences of opinion between the 18-24 and 45+ age groups. As many as 61% of older web users would turn to email or phone for help, compared to just 44% of 18-24 year olds. The younger age range were more inclined to contact a company through online chat with just over a fifth saying this was their preferred method, and 22% trying the website's FAQs. Older website visitors prefer more traditional contact methods, with only 10% of the over 55s turning to chat and 46% choosing to send a company an email, compared to 30% of 18-24 year olds.

Matthew Haines, European Managing Director of nGenera CIM, comments: "It is clear from the research that the customer service landscape is changing. Online channels such as email, web self-service and live chats are quickly overtaking phone as the preferred contact method for UK consumers. This provides an opportunity for companies to deliver fast and effective online customer service, which can be a key differentiator and deliver huge benefits. By establishing these channels, businesses can reduce strain on the call centre, increase agent productivity, reduce costs and ensure consistency and accuracy of messages.

"The younger, internet-savvy generation are very comfortable using new technologies such as live chat and demand rapid, accurate customer service. They are leading a new evolution of customer service, driving communication online, and providing companies with the opportunity to streamline their call centre operations and effectively meet the high levels of service their customers are demanding."

Africa can seize share of IT outsourcing market: outsourced IT labour has proved a massive boon to developing countries like India and the Philippines

why experts think it can :

With the rising cost of local production and labour in developed countries like the United States, many companies, especially in the IT arena are looking to the developed world for answers--and finding them. Countries like India have successfully positioned themselves as niche providers of outsourced labour in IT and are reaping the benefits. And, as analysts continue to predict a growth in this type of outsourcing, the opportunity is ripe for other developing countries to tap into this lucrative market. The question is: Can Africa capture a share of the offshore IT market?

US research firm Gartner Inc is predicting that the outsourcing segment will continue to outperform the western European IT services market overall, growing by 3.1% in 2004, then rising steadily during the next three years to an annual increase of 8% in 2007. Moreover, as a result of global outsourcing trends, Gartner predicts that up to 25% of traditional IT jobs in many developed countries today will be situated in emerging markets by 2010.

The move to offshore outsourcing is spurred on by increasing pressure on companies in the developed world to generate profits and reduce costs. Anton Groom of MBS Outsourcing says there is also a drive to follow the sun, to allow them to offer services 24/7 (24 hours, seven days a week). "It therefore makes sense to have offices located in the three primary time zones," says Groom.

He adds that with a client base expanding globally, it also makes sense to provide clients with a global delivery model. As the developing world gains momentum in creating pools of qualified, skilled talent, outsourcing to these regions becomes more attractive.

FOLLOWING INDIA'S LEAD :

India has managed to create a niche for itself in this area, but it has not happened overnight. Amar Vakil, CEO of Lintas, a US-based management-consulting firm, and founder of the Foreign Investment Promotion Council, explains that there are specific factors that have enabled India to position itself in such a manner. These factors are predominantly a skilled workforce and appropriate infrastructure.

"Twenty to 25 years ago, India was an underdeveloped country. There was a brain drain of skilled labour to developed countries, where, for example there was a need for engineers," says Vakil. "Ten to 15 years ago, people like me, with similar backgrounds, decided to move back to India and there was a huge impetus from government to build world class communications networks. Government started dabbling with public-private partnerships, which now, after 10 or so years are proving very effective."

While this may not be easy to replicate, Vakil believes there are lessons to be learned from India and other countries like the Philippines which have attracted a strong outsource base. "The playing field is level. It is not India's game at all," he says. Although India was one of the first to position itself in this way, "there is an opportunity for other countries to tap into this potential".

Where India focused on information technology and software development, African countries wanting to tap into this opportunity will need to look at IP-enabled services.

Everdream founder and vice-president, Lyndon Rive, agrees that Africa can move into this arena. "Third world countries are getting educated enough to offer IT support, making them an untapped resource," he says. Everdream provides hosted IT software applications and services that protect, manage and support personal computers at medium and large organisations.

In fact, Rive says, many companies are moving away from India as the place to outsource, because of the labour churn that is taking place in India. And African countries have a whole lot going for them.

AFRICA'S STRENGTHS

Chief among the strengths of the African continent, says Rive, is the fact that English is really strong. "It is a different accent, but it is well understood. Sometimes Chinese or Indian speakers of English are not so easy to understand," he says. Everdream has had experience working with companies in Costa Rica and Rive stresses that in cross-border transactions the "language barrier is an issue".

Certain African countries are also making progress in positioning themselves as hubs for IT and thus attracting IT business to their shores. Mauritius, for example, is building on a concept similar to Dubai Internet City, with its own Mauritius CyberCity. In South Africa, Cape Town has worked hard to position itself as an IT hub on the continent.

According to Vakil, Ghana has the potential to tap into this market from the perspective that it has had a very stable government for the last 20 years and the workforce is fairly motivated. "For example, New York's parking ticket system is managed from Ghana. The challenge here is that government is not geared to capture this opportunity," says Vakil.

Nigeria, on the other hand, has an entire ministry for ICT, but, says Vakil, there is a major disconnection between government and the private sector.

"I think Africa is a phenomenal resource," says Rive. "It has extremely smart people."

AFRICA'S WEAKNESSES

Of course, there are challenges to positioning African countries as ripe for offshore outsourcing. There are questions about the stability of certain African governments, which may deter investors from moving to the region. Political instability is currently impacting India's offshore outsourcing niche.

Groom says that there is also much bureaucracy in dealing with governments in African countries, though some have made strides in making it easier for companies to build offshore.

Vakil uses the example of Ghana where it takes six months to form a company because of the initial processes, which have been in place for such a long time. "It could be perceived as an opportunity to change the regulations for business so that businesses are welcome to come in and operate."

In addition, says Groom, many African countries do not have the needed communications infrastructure to take advantage of the opportunities. The legislative environment can also hinder foreign involvement. "It's about protection. If we build an office in that country, will we have good judicial system to back us up?" Groom asks.

The language issue also plays a role, though Groom, like Rive, points out that countries like South Africa have a strong English-speaking workforce, and Francophone Africa with its French-speaking population is attractive to many European countries.

While Africa is wrongly perceived as an unattractive region for investment, Groom points out that Africa supplies the highest rate of return on investments, though it only gets a small proportion of the total investments. "Of course, the risks are higher," he says.

If Africa is to tap into this potential gold-mine, government and industry need to work together to create an environment that fosters an interest from companies in the US and Europe.

"Government's involvement is very important, but it needs to be more of a partnership," says Vakil. "The private sector needs to partner with government to create an enabling environment. Together they can adapt to the changing needs of the sector. In India, for example, there is a need to move out of the urban hub into rural areas, because it is not cost-effective to remain in the urban areas." Vakil is "reasonably certain" that government in India is looking at ways and means of bringing rural areas into the economic growth.

The private sector needs to create interest in government to get involved in such public-private partnerships.

It is also vital that African countries nurture tertiary education, customising tertiary education courses to capture the market and produce the needed skills to be attractive to investors. "India focused on creating engineers. There are 250,000 to 300,000 engineers coming out of universities in India at the moment," says Vakil.

COMMUNAL APPROACH

To be successful, it is necessary to build the community as a whole. But understandably developing countries have limited capital to put this in place. Vakil points out that there are agencies out there that can really assist them.

He adds that government needs to let go of some control. "In India, about eight years ago we were involved with a water project. It took us seven years to build the partnership with government. A second project near that same region took about nine months," says Vakil. "There are definitely ways to help put effective partnerships in place sooner, but they cannot be replicated as is, because every country is different."

There are many areas in which African countries, eager to move into this space, can carve out a niche for themselves. The lucrative call centre sector is one such area. Creating an environment that makes offshore outsourcing in Africa attractive can have many positive spin-offs for the continent as a whole, not just in terms of increased employment, additional revenue and new skills, but also in terms of changing the perception the developed world has about Africa.

Call Center Technology - Is it a Help Or a Hindrance in Your Company?

Customers and companies alike are relying on contact centers to manage large portions of their business functions. Companies are using their call centers to serve as a resource for customers to answer questions, schedule repairs, take orders, process purchases, and possible upselling. Consumers rely on call centers to answer questions that are not clearly explained online, to purchase, to get more information, or to simply have a human being be their connection to the company, not the internet.

Therein lies the challenge - how to effectively utilize and manage a call center to best serve the needs of both the customer calling in and the company itself.

The main purpose of the call center is to provide excellent service in order to increase customer satisfaction and retention. In the mind of the customer, the person with whom they are speaking IS the company. The smart companies are using their call centers to partner with the customer in order to enhance the experience that their customers are already having with them in order to generate retention, loyalty, and increased profits.

Call centers are striving toward high efficiency and effectiveness. This is aided by new technological developments that have appeared on the market at lightening speed in recent years. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software provides amazing tracking and scheduling for customer touchpoints and purchases. Call center technology has advanced to the point where calls can be monitored and tracked, queued at the point of inception, as well as time per call demonstrating work flow and scheduling needs, etc.

All of this technology is extremely useful provided the focus remains on the needs of the customer. Technology is a wonderful thing, but steps need to be taken to ensure companies aren't using it as an obstacle for the customer or losing the personal aspect of the interaction. Automated attendants, voice queues, time per call measurements are useful and have their place, yet the "live person" is what so many consumers prefer and appreciate. Once we lapse into having technology "process" our customers, the quality of the call suffers in the drive to minimize the duration of each call.

The call center is an excellent opportunity to focus on their customers and really grow business. It is an avenue of communicating with customers during which customer expectations can always be exceeded. The goal is to maximize the relationship between the company and the customer. The key word here is relationship. Customers are buying the relationships that we are promising them, not merely our product or service. It has been proven that when the customer has an excellent experience, the direct correlation is increased customer loyalty and increased revenue.

Technology improves the effectiveness and efficiency of true partnerships with customers. It serves as the foundation of information for the staff themselves to carry the experience to the next level. CRM software can relay the previous purchases of the customer, yet the contact center staff themselves are developing the sustainable and loyalty driven relationship when they actively and genuinely engage with the customer to anticipate needs before the customer is even aware they have them. When customers feel that the call center staff and company is truly on their team, they reward the business with their loyalty and dollars.

Mobile Self-service a Hit, says Nuance

Nuance Communications released the results of independent consumer research that reveals a huge consumer appetite for customer service delivered directly on the mobile handset. In a representative survey in Spain, consumers were asked to trial Nuance Mobile Care, which enables customers to resolve common customer enquiries directly on their mobile handset instead of calling a contact centre. Over half of respondents (59%) said that mobile handset self-service would be their preferred channel, compared with 34% who would choose to deal with a customer service agent and 1% who favour web self-service.
The study, carried out by marketing insight consultancy Added Value, found that users felt more positive about the brand providing the mobile care service. They perceived it to be a reliable company that provides good customer service, and develops the best solutions for its customers, as well as being one that helps make customers’ lives easier.
With less than 1% of respondents needing customer service help when using Nuance Mobile Care for the first time, says Nuance, the survey illustrates how easy the application is to use. This was a major advantage over an alternative mobile handset self-service application that was also tested as part of the research. According to Nuance 66% of users were unable to successfully launch this second application without assistance.
“With increasingly time-pressured lifestyles, solving service issues quickly and efficiently is of utmost importance to mobile phone consumers,” says Added Value Associate Director, Tom Wells. “In the past, this has been the preserve of speaking to a customer service agent, but this research shows that Nuance Mobile Care is a credible and preferred alternative. This positive customer experience has the potential not only to increase overall customer service satisfaction, but also enhance the reputation of the network provider who implements Nuance Mobile Care.”
Nuance Mobile Care helps customers to automatically resolve common problems directly on their mobile handsets, reducing overall calls to the live call centre and allowing the agents to help customers with issues that deserve their attention. Customers are able to make account enquiries and pay bills directly on their handset. Customers simply dial customer care, and instead of placing a call, the application opens automatically on the phone display.
The survey follows large-scale commercial rollouts of Nuance Mobile Care handheld self-service software with Vodafone Group, T-Mobile U.S. and MetroPCS.

How Do You Spell Relief? W-E-B S-E-L-F S-E-R-V-I-C-E

Call centers today are not happy places. Longstanding problems of the call center continue to cause major management headaches. And the source of those headaches—increasing call volumes, high expectations, high pressure, and tight budgets—isn’t likely to diminish anytime soon. Instead, relief must come from a new direction, the Web.

Call center problems are well documented. The costs remain high despite the widespread deployment of automated voice response systems, CRM applications, expert systems, and more. And the pressure to handle more customers queries ever more quickly leads to call center agent burnout, which results in high staff turnover and correspondingly high recruitment and training costs.

Despite all the technology, automation, and expertise focused on the call center, customer frustration and dissatisfaction continue to run high. Waits are too long, and problem resolution can be hit-or-miss.

The problems at the call center have resisted conventional solutions. Automated systems and interactive voice response (IVR) have not only failed to solve the problems but may have aggravated some of issues. Callers become frustrated by having to navigate through seemingly endless IVR trees. They become angry when they find themselves locked in phone mail jail, unable to reach a live agent. The need to frequently repeat their query or problem and the re-routing of calls only worsens the situation.

As a result, support managers find themselves caught in a seemingly no-win situation. Despite major investments in call center automation, the volume of calls keeps climbing while pressure to cut costs continues and customer satisfaction plummets.

And the situation is likely to get worse as products become increasingly complicated. Customers need help coping with a proliferation of product options and configurations. The upshot: call center agents will need to know much more about many more products and more customers will be calling more often for help. At the same time, the pressure to keep costs low will only intensify.

Clearly, it is time to look outside the call center for relief. Although nothing will replace the central role of the call center, organizations increasingly are turning to Web self-service to relieve some of the pressure on the call center. For many types of products, particularly complex products with myriad options and configurations, Web self-service can be extremely effective and cost efficient. In published remarks, the Yankee Group, a Boston-based research firm, notes that organizations can save $20-$25 per call by using Web self-help. Diverting calls to Web self-service can not only deliver improved customer service, but save significant money in the process – a win-win for everyone involved.

Web self-service, an approach to automating customer care, takes the lessons mastered in e-commerce and applies them to online customer service. Specifically, it taps the power of personalization and dynamic data to identify and customize the online experience of each visitor based on the visitor’s previous purchases and activities.

Not intended to replace the call center, Web self-service can relieve the call center of a significant portion of its workload, as much as 80% according to some studies. These callers, who ask common questions or have standard problems, can be satisfied quickly through Web self-service at a cost of pennies compared to the call center, where handling even a routine query costs dollars or tens of dollars. With such routine service requests handled online, the call center is free to handle more complicated customer problems or deal with preferred customers.

Customers have been using the Web for a variety of activities such as managing bank accounts and purchasing merchandise for years, but it is in its infancy for supporting customer service – but customers are ready for an enhanced customer experience. Online users are happier to find the support they need on the Web quickly and easily rather than waiting in phone queues or tediously navigating through confusing phone trees. With Web self-service customers can also switch to a live agent via phone or real-time messaging if self-service alone is not sufficient.

Leveraging the power of personalization and dynamic data, Web self-service can handle surprisingly complex tasks designed to improve the customer experience. For example, a buyer of a digital camera can access information about the care and use of the specific camera purchased based on information provided when the buyer returned the warranty registration. Once identified by the personalization system, the buyer doesn’t even have to know the particular product model he or she purchased. Similarly, a customer can go online to resolve a continuing problem and the system can automatically know what the problem is, what has been done to date, and proceed from that point without dragging the customer through a repetition of all that has gone before. The system will even be able to select customers for expedited service based on the value the organization places on its relationship with that particular customer greatly enhancing the customer experience.

Contrary to common assumptions, Web self-service can work well even where complex service and support is required if the system has information about individual customers. Using the intelligence and policies built into the system combined with personalization and dynamic data, the Web service is able to walk customers through complicated configuration and support issues as effectively as it can handle routine issues and commonly asked questions.

A number of critical factors are key to the success of Web self-service. Specifically, the organization must have sufficient customer data to effectively personalize and customize the experience. Although a full 360-degree view of the customer is ideal, it is not required as long as the personal information that the system does have is relevant. The organization also will need to have current, accurate product and support data.

Finally, the organization will need to integrate its Web self-service with other service and support channels, particularly the call center. In the end, the organization wants to achieve a level of blended service and support that allows it to resolve customer issues through the least costly support channel while seamlessly moving customers from channel to channel as needed.

Once the organization has introduced Web self-service, it is positioned to turn customer support into an opportunity to increase revenue. This calls for proactive customer self-service, in which highly targeted, personalized messages steer the customer to additional purchases based on their recent sales AND service support activity.

Web self-service won’t and shouldn’t replace the call center. What it can do, however, is drive down the overall cost of supporting customers, reduce the workload at the call center and enhance customer experience. That’s how many support managers spell relief.

Lay Off Customer Service!!!! .... Lose Customers..

Just about every company faces tough choices about how to improve operations in an increasingly tough environment. Companies need to be careful that short-term cuts don't lead to long-term pain.

I've clearly stated my perspective that the worst thing companies can do in the Great disruption is to stop investing in innovation. Companies might think that innovation and survival are discrete choices. They are not. Companies that stop innovating are sowing the seeds of their own destruction.

Customer service is another investment companies should cut cautiously. Two companies to which I have been a loyal customer for years severely tested that loyalty within the last week.

The first was a rent-a-car. I've been a loyal five-star-gold-status to the rent-a-car co.customer for years. I generally choose this car rental co. because of its convenience. Last Tuesday, I arrived in Chicago's O'Hare airport at around 8:30 in the evening. I and my fellow travelers first waited about 20 minutes in 10 degree weather for the bus from the terminal to the rental car location. None of our names were on the #1 Club Gold board.

Upon entering the rent-a-car building, we saw a long, snaking line of steaming customers waiting for the three check-out people to ... slowly ... process orders. Your journey wasn't done after you waited 50 minutes to get to the front of the line. You had to wait another 20 minutes for your car to be cleaned and driven up to the building. Smart customers (not me, unfortunately) walked up the road to another rent-a-car co.

The staff said that they had just gone through a big round of layoffs, and didn't have sufficient capacity to meet demand. Their rather laconic pace indicated that this was their attempt to show management the impact of downsizing.

I sympathize with the workers, but the net result was a vow to never use the rent-a-car co. in future visits to Chicago. One episode was enough to destroy years of built-in loyalty.

The other example is major financial organization. I've always been a fan of the company. Heck, I almost took a job with the financial firm after business school. But in the last few months the company has been mindlessly turning down the screws on Innosight.

We are a consulting company, which means we travel and run up credit card balances when we are on the road. We are a profitable, solvent, healthy company that charges tens of thousands of dollars a month, generating reasonable interchange fees for the financial co.. One of our cardholders was a bit late paying their bill last year, so the credit card co. froze all of our cards. (The project team that was in Europe appreciated that.) Then, without telling us, they capped our spending. Our office manager keeps trying to get me to talk to a supervisor, but we keep being walled off.

The net result? We're looking for another corporate card provider. The credit card co. might be saving pennies today by moderately decreasing the default rate of small businesses, but it's losing long-term loyalty that could haunt it for years.

I suspect my run-ins with the rent-a-car company and the financial company were not isolated incidents. And I suspect many more companies are making what seems to them to be rational short-term decisions to shut off innovation and slash customer service. If you are considering these moves, make sure you don't just focus on the tangible cost savings. Consider the negative impact of -- sometimes sharply -- decreasing customer loyalty or your long-term ability to compete.

One should look at bettering the e-process to serve customers better rather than have less customer service agents with a traditional contact center.

Its time... Customer needs it and We have to give it.

Learn how Web-Self Service Improves Customer Experience, Keeps Costs Low

In today’s slow economy, businesses must push harder to keep customers happy, and some experts now say that the customer's experience has even replaced price as a key reason why they're buying from one company rather than another.

A top reason why implementing Web self-service today makes sense is that the psychological state of consumers in a turbulent economy makes it harder to win them over. Instead, companies should focus on growth from existing customers.

This increases focus on current customers is also more cost-effective.

Next, focusing more on the customer experience and investing in technologies such as Web self-service can help a company better understand its customers and focus on providing support that addresses specific demands.

Not only is it important to understand what information customers are seeking, but it's also important to know how they want to interact. Findings cited by researchers point to online as the best and most cost-effective interaction channel for customers. The firm also finds that more than 90 percent of all consumer decisions begin online, with 83 percent of non-technical customer service occurring via a company’s Web site.

Finally, by achieving improved customer experiences, companies can meet today’s economic demands to save on costs as more streamlined and efficient process are achieved.

Web Self-Service - The best buy of 2009/2010

Maximize the effectiveness of your CRM initiatives while minimizing customer-service costs through Web self-service. A broad range of offerings are available with levels of functionality that range from content- to transaction-based services.

Many companies are turning to Web-based customer self-service, where customers can obtain information and perform routine transactions on their own. The good news: Not only is this turning out to be an effective way for companies to help retain customers and increase the profitability of those relationships, but it's also helping trim customer-service costs.

Without Web self-service, customer interactions would be handled through alternate customer-relationship management channels, such as a call center or E-mail--options that have a much higher price per inquiry than self-service. An effective Web self-service program can help companies reduce operating costs for customer-service staff, training, and equipment.

Web self-service is ideal for relatively simple, repetitive interactions such as balance inquiries and address changes. Routine information inquiries and transactions rely on the same information and adhere to common processes with little deviation.

Web self-service lets customers navigate and search for information that might be stored in a central knowledge base or in line-of-business applications. Some customer-help systems provide additional means for clients to submit inquiries, such as Web forms, E-mail, or online chat.

A Web self-service module functions as a service on a company's Web site and resides on the same Web server, requiring minimal upkeep. The module requires no customization because it's accessed through standard Web browsers.

To conduct transactions and obtain customer-specific information, Web self-service modules must integrate with enterprise applications such as enterprise resource planning systems and other components within the CRM suite. The larger CRM vendors typically provide some level of integration with ERP systems through pre-built connections or APIs and have integrated their Web self-service modules with their CRM suites.

Web self-service can be segmented into three types. Content-based services focus on inquiries that can be satisfied with static information. The most basic example of content-based self-service is a "frequently asked questions" option. More advanced Web self-services use case-based reasoning, and others track relationships between customer inquiries and the information needed to satisfy them.

Transaction-based services can include services such as placing orders, filling out applications, updating customer information, and making payments. Transaction-based services also include any information requests related to transactions or a specific customer. Because transaction-based Web self-service relies on dynamic information, it must be integrated with a company's back-end enterprise systems.

Software and hosting options are another type. Most customer-relationship management vendors offer at least rudimentary Web self-service functionality as part of their CRM suites. Software from Avaya, E.piphany, Kana, and Siebel Systems all include at least some level of Web self-service capabilities.

A number of vendors also let companies offload the entire process to an application service provider. eGain Communications, Neteos, and RightNow offer hosted Web self-service systems in addition to their conventional licensed software. They provide security features, perform detailed custom analysis, and capture customer navigation.

A comparison of vendors specializing in Web-based CRM with the big CRM-platform vendors yields interesting results. Smaller vendors specializing in Web-based CRM products seem to provide more comprehensive functionality. The larger CRM-suite vendors do offer Web self-service capabilities and typically provide connections with enterprise systems to enable transactions and customer-specific data requests. However, they generally lack tools for knowledge-base development or guided problem solving.

Given the attention that companies are paying to increasing customer intimacy while also decreasing support costs, the market for Web-based self-services should increase significantly during the next year or so. With some vendors now offering Web self-service as a standalone offering or an ASP offering that doesn't require massive investments in a full CRM suite, the technology is within reach of small and midsize companies with limited IT resources.